Yep, KEFJ is super supportive of alternative transportation, so they have
loaner bikes for seasonals

>
Deb Keller

Maybe you could catch a ride on one of those mosquitoes!

>
Stacey Torigoe

Haha if only
:)

They’re deﬁnitely big enough…

>
Deb Keller

That’s what was covering your head gear in the photo in your latest post, right?

>
Stacey Torigoe

All those little black dots in front of the glacial outwash plain view? Yep

>
Deb Keller

I’ve got to know — did the otter make it to his “doctor appointment” OK

>
Stacey Torigoe

Haha he did
:)

We dropped him off with a kayak tour group and they took him safely to shore.

>
Stacey Torigoe

No word on the autopsy yet though

11:22 AM

>
Kevin Hamilton

As others have noted, you write very well, and your pictures are great.
Where does that come from and do you ever stand on level ground?

11:23 AM

>
Joe Thurston

hmm. wondering if the technical diﬃculties are back…

>
Deb Keller

I get the impression you have some real temperature swings there. What’s
a typical day temp vs night temp?

>
Stacey Torigoe

Sorry still here! Thanks Kevin! Living in a place like this deﬁnitely
helps… there’s a lot to write about, especially in such a dynamic landscape
like Alaska’s. I feel like I’m being constantly challenged to think about
why we’re doing what we’re doing, and what our place in the grand

he means, i think, are you ever not clinging to the side of a mountain?

>
Stacey Torigoe

Haha. I guess it seems like it

>
Stacey Torigoe

It’s so easy to go alpine here because we’re so far north

>
Patty Holland

Stacey - are you keeping track of how many invasives you’re removing?

>
Stacey Torigoe

I went hiking with a friend yesterday, we ended up at around 1000 ft and
he said that the rainforest looked more like 5000 in WA

>
Stacey Torigoe

Yep, we track pretty much every plant we pull by GPS

>
Stacey Torigoe

We have Trimble units that get down to sub-meter accuracy

>
Joe Thurston

whoa

>
Stacey Torigoe

And it’s pretty easy to estimate area and the number of plants you’ve
pulled when you plug in the numbers

>
Joe Thurston

what’s the nastiest invasive you deal with?

>
Kevin Hamilton

Every photo I see, you’re way up on a slope

>
Stacey Torigoe

We have a few really nasty ones, but fortunately they’re pretty small
in scope

>
Stacey Torigoe

bird vetch, and sheep sorrel, maybe

>
Stacey Torigoe

just can’t stay away from the mountains
:)

>
Joe Thurston

so, no moose, bears, wolverines, or jaguars…

>
Stacey Torigoe

Not so far…

>
Stacey Torigoe

Lots of marmots though

>
Joe Thurston

what kind of wildlife have you encountered?

>
Joe Thurston

i mean, in addition to those otters.

>
Stacey Torigoe

:(

poor otter. We have seen a wolverine, which was super exciting, and the
occasional black bear

>
Stacey Torigoe

and run into a couple of grizzlies out on the outwash plain where exit
glacier melts out

>
Stacey Torigoe

but that’s usually seeing the back ends of them turning tail and running :_)

>
Evan Escamilla

What made you decide to leave your home in Hawaii for an SCA internship
in Alaska?

>
Joe Thurston

wooooooow!

>
Dominick Harris

Glad you are having an awesome time, I used to live up there, such a beautiful place!

>
Stacey Torigoe

I just graduated from school in CA and wasn’t sure what I wanted to do
yet, wanted to get more ﬁeld experience, so I applied through SCA! Def
hoping to go back home and work in HI though

>
Stacey Torigoe

Thanks Dominick, so true! Where in AK did you live?

>
Stacey Torigoe

I had a lot of friends at school who were from Alaska too, and I saw their
pictures from home online and have been wanting to come out here forever
:)

>
Me

NOTE: We will have Nora on in a minute as well, feel free to ask questions
to either, just preﬁx it with @Stacey or @Nora. Thanks!

>
Stacey Torigoe

But everyone probably remembers seeing Balto, or reading Julie and the
Wolves, and falling in love with the idea of living in the frozen North…

>
Joe Thurston

@Stacey It is a lovely idea! But so I’m dying to know more about what
kind of lodging they have for you out there.

>
Joe Thurston

@Stacey What’s your housing like?

>
Stacey Torigoe

Joe, I live in an apartment in town with two other SCAs at KEFJ. But pretty
much everyone in my building works for the park, so it’s been really fun

>
Stacey Torigoe

We get together and have family dinners, or go for hikes, or just hang out

>
Joe Thurston

@stacey Sounds so fun!

>
Lillian Falese (Bloch)

Have you been able to do a lot of traveling around Alaska?

>
Stacey Torigoe

Not yet, just to Anchorage for EPMT training at the beginning of the season

>
Lillian Falese (Bloch)

Well that’s not too shabby!

>
Stacey Torigoe

Deﬁnitely not!
:)

But hoping to get out to Cordova and Kodiak where friends from school are!

>
Stacey Torigoe

Any places you’d recommend?

>
Dominick Harris

I lived in Anchorage, how long are there for?

>
Joe Thurston

@Nora Where are you joining us from today?

>
Stacey Torigoe

As cities go, Anchorage is pretty prime… surrounded by mountains

>
Stacey Torigoe

I’m here in Seward untii the end of August

>
Joe Thurston

@stacey What elevation are you living at?

>
Nora Kaufmann

Hey there everybody! Nora here, I am a crew leader blogging for the SCA
about my time leading high school crews this summer. I just got started
with my second high school crew in Big Sur, CA after ﬁnishing up with
my crew in Wind Cave National Park, South Dakota. Feel free to ask me any questions!

>
Joe Thurston

@Nora Good morning!!!

>
Joe Thurston

Thanks for the intro!!!

>
Stacey Torigoe

I’m at sea level right now; we’ve got an excellent view of Resurrection
Bay and the mountains beyond from the apartments

>
Nora Kaufmann

Right now I’m coming at you from the River Inn at Big Sur while my kids
are hard at work about a half hour down the road!
:)

>
Caroline Hankour

@Nora hope the trip is off to a great start, kids adjusting?

>
Deb Keller

@Nora I’m curious about the bison — the crew journal you posted mentioned
an aroma…?

>
Joe Thurston

@stacey That’s awesome! Your housing comes with friends AND a view!

>
Deb Keller

that would be an aroma to the bison (not the crew, although that could
be true too…

>
Nora Kaufmann

Caroline, The kids are doing great! I think they’re really starting to
get the hang of things down here and so far they’ve been having a great time!

>
Stacey Torigoe

Yep
:)

But we regularly get up to 3000 or so on the Iceﬁeld trail

>
Nora Kaufmann

Deb, Oh yes, the Bison leave all kinds of great presents for us everywhere

>
Julia Jandrisits

@Nora What project will you be working on at Big Sur?

>
Nora Kaufmann

But I think the smell that was mentioned in the journal cannot be attributed
to the Bison…

>
Deb Keller

@Nora Haha, OK we don’t need to go there then…

>
Joe Thurston

@Stacey That’s so cool.

>
Stacey Torigoe

Nora, I love your posts; being on hitch with a crew sounds like a blast!
Do the kids have to give up cell phones, internet, etc. when they’re out
working with you?

>
Nora Kaufmann

Julia, the project that we are working on here in Big Sur is AWESOME.
They had some big ﬁres a few years ago so we are ﬁxing some slides caused
by the ﬁres and bringing an old ADA trail back up to meet standards

>
Caroline Hankour

@Nora sounds awesome! How many hours a day have you guys been working?

>
Nora Kaufmann

Some of it is a bit tedious at times, but then I turn around and realize
that my oﬃce on the side of a cliff with a bright blue ocean in the background
and a waterfall that drops straight onto the beach, and all is well again

>
Joe Thurston

Holy smokes!

>
Joe Thurston

@Nora I hope you have some pictures of THAT to share with us!

>
Julia Jandrisits

amazing

>
Nora Kaufmann

Stacey, yes, the students hand over their phones and iPods and such on
that ﬁrst day. We ﬁnd that it helps build that intentional community
that the high school crews really thrive on. It brings the students away
from their “real lives” and helps them focus on our community

11:49 AM

>
Deb Keller

Nora, is the transition to unplugged a tough one?

>
Nora Kaufmann

Caroline, the students have been putting in 8 hours of work a day, which
is really impressive! They have been doing a really great job at the worksite,
they are really starting to get the hang of trail work, but I think they
are really looking forward to our day off on Sunday

11:50 AM

>
Caroline Hankour

@Nora sounds like you’re breaking them in! what do you get to do on the
day off?

>
Nora Kaufmann

Sometimes it can be a little tough. Usually our worksites are in areas
that wouldn’t get cell service anyhow, and there is no place to plug in
an iPod, so the technological crutch would be short lived

>
Patty Holland

@Nora, where are all of your members from?

>
Caroline Hankour

oh, and what would be in an ideal care package?
;)

>
Nora Kaufmann

Caroline, yes, I think they are starting to get used to the idea of an
8 hour work day! There is quite a bit of poison oak in the area, so we’re
doing our best to mitigate that problem!

11:53 AM

>
Nora Kaufmann

Patty, the three girls on my crew are from California- Palo Alto, Oakland,
and Capitola, and the boys are all from the East Coast- Massachusetts,
New York, and North Carolina

11:54 AM

>
Patty Holland

Wow - a bi-coastal crew! Very nice!

>
Nora Kaufmann

Oh, anything you think Nadir might miss from home; We try to do a pretty
comprehensive job with our food shopping, but chocolate chip cookies seem
to be popular…!!

>
Nora Kaufmann

sending a compact card game or some magazines can be fun as well

>
Deb Keller

How often do you get mail?

>
Nora Kaufmann

We try to check mail every afternoon… so that the cookies don’t go stale!

>
Mike Maher

@Nora, I’m wishing I were there. I’ve camped at the Big Sur Campground,
eaten at the Big Sue River Inn and lived in Monterey for a year. One of
my favorite places in the world.

>
Caroline Hankour

@Nora sounds good! thanks for everything!

>
Nora Kaufmann

It is a beautiful area, that’s for sure! I’m at the Big Sur River Inn
right now!

>
Deb Keller

What are your plans for your crew’s day off?

>
Nora Kaufmann

Well one of our students volunteers at the Monterey Aquarium and can get
us in for free, so that is deﬁnitely in the plans for one of our days off

>
Nora Kaufmann

She even says she can get us “behind the scenes” whatever that means…!!
Hopefully we don’t get eaten by sharks.

>
Patty Holland

I was there this spring. It’s fantastic…and the otter exhibit is so
much fun!

>
Patty Holland

We also have an SCA Alumnus that works there.

>
Nora Kaufmann

I think we will wait until next Sunday to do that trip; this Sunday we
might take a trip to a local swimming hole and then see what the area has
to offer in terms of day hikes!

>
Nora Kaufmann

Yes, I think the whole crew is pretty excited about the Monterey aquarium,
but I think they’re even more excited to sleep in…

>
Stacey Torigoe

Gotta get to snow shovelin’, great talking to you and have an awesome
time with your crew, Nora!

>
Joe Thurston

@Stacey Thanks so much for joining us!!!

>
Deb Keller

Great talking to you Stacey!

>
Joe Thurston

have a great day! stay away from those wolverines!

>
Nora Kaufmann

Thanks Stacey!

>
Caroline Hankour

@Nora what is the camp site like?

>
Deb Keller

Nora how early does your crew normally have to get up and get going?

>
Nora Kaufmann

The campsite is really nice- its in a grove of Redwoods an since they
are doing construction on one side of the campground, there is no one behind us

12:04 PM

>
Nora Kaufmann

I;ve never been camped in such a public place before so that takes some
getting used to (last night someone decided to start singing the mamas
and the papas at the top of their lungs at midnight), but its a really
beautiful spot and we’ve got a creek right behind us

>
Deb Keller

Were they singing “California Dreaming?”

12:05 PM

>
Elena Marroquin

Hello everyone! My name is Elena and I just completed a 5 1/2 week community
crew in Houston as a student apprentice.

>
Me

@Nora is the waterfall at Julia Pfeiffer running or has it been too dry?

>
Nora Kaufmann

We start work at 7- starting with a stretch circle and game to get things
going, and we are usually on the trail by about 7:45 after factoring in
our drive.

>
Joe Thurston

Alright!

>
Patty Holland

Welcome @Elena!

>
Andy Janes

Hello Elena!

>
Joe Thurston

Yes!

>
Nora Kaufmann

Deb, YES! They were! And they were actually really good!

>
Nora Kaufmann

If I wasn’t trying to sleep it would have been quite nice!

>
Elena Marroquin

Thanks Patty! Hi Andy!

>
Joe Thurston

please address questions for Elena with @Elena. Thanks everyone!

>
Nora Kaufmann

Yes, the waterfall is running; its right in view from our work site and
it’s pretty awesome!

>
Nora Kaufmann

unfortunately there is no way to get down there, but we deﬁnitely enjoy
the view

>
Joe Thurston

@Elena So what kind of work were you up to with your community crew?

>
Me

Can you kayak onto the beach or is it off-limits?

>
Patty Holland

@Elena - Those benches your team constructed are fabulous. How long did
it take your team to put them together and set them up?

>
Jamie Scott

Elena! So glad you participated this year!

>
Liz V

Hey Nora
:)

>
Nora Kaufmann

Hi Liz!! How are you?!

>
Liz V

Great! So glad to hear of your adventures on Follow Me!

>
Nora Kaufmann

I’m not sure if you can kayak to the beach or not; I think the close place
to put in is pretty far away…

>
Andy Janes

@Elena - What was the best way you found to combat the Houston heat?

>
Nora Kaufmann

Haha, the stories pretty much wrote themselves, as is usually the case
on high school crews
:)

12:11 PM

>
Elena Marroquin

My community crew was able to work on building trails, benches, trashcan
holders, compost bends.

12:12 PM

>
Elena Marroquin

At one point we tried to put in water bars into a trail in Memorial but
the rain did not make it a easy task.

>
Elena Marroquin

Although we were able to learn and see how water travels on a path and
what improvements could be done for next time.

>
Deb Keller

@Elena, your before & after trail pix are dramatic. Did the crew members
really think they could do it when they ﬁrst saw the trail site? I could
see where they might think it was pretty impossible…

>
Elena Marroquin

The benches actually only took our crew 2 days to build and only half
a day to put in!

>
Deb Keller

That’s pretty amazing!

>
Elena Marroquin

The crew had a wonderful dynamic and were constantly working at a steady
past, which is how we were able to ﬁnish so quickly.

>
Deb Keller

So your crew really bonded with each other?

>
Jamie Scott

@Elena, how was your experience different coming in as a crew leader apprentice
versus a member from previous years?

>
Elena Marroquin

The best way I could combat the heat was by wearing a bandana over my
neck and forehead and wetting it whenever it got really hot. Plus wearing
a long sleeve shirt and drinking A LOT of water.

12:18 PM

>
Elena Marroquin

For a lot of our crew members it was the ﬁrst time they ever did a hands
on project like this, so I don’t think they knew how much work they could
all do together as a team if they put their mind to it. It was wonderful
to see their reaction at the end of every day because with hard work and

>
Elena Marroquin

good conversations you don’t see how much work you’re doing at the time
and how fast time ﬂies

>
Joe Thurston

@Elena Wow. That’s so cool.

>
Elena Marroquin

But I will say this, once they completed this project which was their
ﬁrst they were excited for the rest!

12:22 PM

>
Garrett Allen

does the crew have any customs or secret handshakes, trail songs or chants etc?

12:23 PM

>
Elena Marroquin

I can say that as a apprentice I see things differently now then I did
as a member. When I was ﬁrst told I had to go to training I thought I
was going to know everything, even though I hadn’t done SCA in three years.
But I soon realized that the reason we are sent to training even if you
were a

12:25 PM

>
Elena Marroquin

previous member is to be able to see the program with different eyes.
I more importantly learned how to teach what I know to others.

>
Elena Marroquin

I also soon realized that I had the lives of 11 students and how important
their safely is.

>
Patty Holland

That sounds like such an amazing experience.

>
Elena Marroquin

Looking back at it now I can see why certain rules are done and enforced,
that i might have not understood as a student a couple of years a go.

>
Deb Keller

Did you feel that the training was good preparation for leading your crew?

>
Jamie Scott

@Elena, rock on! You did great and we look forward seeing you come back
as a leader.

12:29 PM

>
Nora Kaufmann

Bye everyone, thank for the questions, I hope you had an awesome time
on your crew, Elena!

>
Elena Marroquin

My crew was pretty funny so they made up handshakes, told jokes, sang
songs, and played trail games. One trail game that we played was when you
say a name of a movie and then you have to name another movie that begins
with the last letter of the movie you just said.

>
Jamie Scott

Thanks Nora!

>
Deb Keller

Bye Nora Thanks for chatting with us

>
Joe Thurston

Bye Nora!

>
Elena Marroquin

Thanks Nora!

>
Joe Thurston

Thank you!

12:32 PM

>
Deb Keller

@Elena that movie games sounds like a good one for car road trips!

>
Joe Thurston

@elena Sounds like a fun game.

>
Elena Marroquin

I honestly feel that without of the training a lot of things could have
gone wrong this summer. If we as leaders don’t know the basics and more
I feel that we can’t be good leaders for our students. So I am very happy
with the training because I took a lot from it and made some awesome friends!

12:34 PM

>
Elena Marroquin

Thank you Jamie! I look forward to coming back in the future!

12:35 PM

>
Joe Thurston

@Elena How many years have you worked with SCA, and what was the temperature
on the hottest day you worked on this year?

12:37 PM

>
Elena Marroquin

I worked with SCA in the summer of 08 and 09 and in 09 I did a small internship
at the Houston oﬃce to see what all goes into preparing for a summer crew.

>
Elena Marroquin

So this would be my third year with SCA.

>
Carlos De La Torre

Hello everybody! Been watching the interesting questions yall have here.
I’ve just been looking for non-copyrighted music to put on my vid, which
will go on my next blog. But ask away for any questions! I’m at Grand Teton NP.

>
Elena Marroquin

I believe the hottest it got this year was 109 degrees!

>
Joe Thurston

@Elena Wow!!!!!

>
Carlos De La Torre

once you have a question in mind, please address me with @Carlos for any
questions.
;)

>
Joe Thurston

@Carlos Welcome!

>
Joe Thurston

Thanks for joining us!

>
Elena Marroquin

Welcome Carlos!

>
Patty Holland

Welcome @Carlos!

>
Deb Keller

@Carlos I love the marmot photo! How did you get that with it’s crazy expression?

>
Joe Thurston

@Carlos I’ve been dying to know about your photos too!

>
Joe Thurston

Have you taken some photography classes?

>
Joe Thurston

You’re like a pro with that camera.

>
Carlos De La Torre

Thanks! ha, yeah. I’ve been hearing people like that one. I actually got
it in one of my ﬁrst hikes around the Jenny Lake area over here. They
were just running around.

12:42 PM

>
Carlos De La Torre

No, I was actually thinking of taking digital photography, but I’ve heard
that they teach mainly on photoshop. Thanks, I do enjoy taking pictures.

>
Joe Thurston

@Elena That’s awesome that you’ve stuck with SCA for so many years. Was
illuminating to see the oﬃce side of SCA work after working in the ﬁeld?

>
Deb Keller

@Carlos have you met any interesting volunteers or visitors at the park?

>
Joe Thurston

@Carlos Glad you enjoy taking the photos. Keep it up!

>
Kevin Hamilton

@Carlos: assuming you ﬂew into Jackson, what went through your mind when
you soared past those mountain peaks?

>
Elena Marroquin

It really was! As a student coming into the program you only see the summer
crew but you never get to see all of the work that happens before and after,
as well as all the hard work the organization does to stay aﬂoat!

>
Carlos De La Torre

@Deb. Yes! I’ve had some good conversations with some of them. they tell
me their experiences with the parks, they motivate me. Visitors are just
great, they’re from all over. Sometimes I catch some that speak spanish,
so I get a chance to talking to them in our language.

>
Carlos De La Torre

@ Kevin. It was soo amazing. I’m from Texas, ﬂat state, yellowish. But
here, its so beautiful. I literally spent like 8 hours walking around,
driving around taking tons of pictures!

12:47 PM

>
Elena Marroquin

Thank you everyone for your awesome questions. I hope you all have a great
weekend and Carlos enjoy the chat!

>
Carlos De La Torre

@Kevin: that ﬂight down coming into jackson is awesome, most of the time
you land in a plane its all ﬂat around you, but here….we land IN the
park!
:)

>
Carlos De La Torre

@Elena: Thanks!

>
Deb Keller

Bye Elena thanks for joining us!

>
Joe Thurston

@Elena Thanks for the awesome answers! Have a lovely weekend!

>
Deb Keller

@Carlos Really! in the part. Among the elk?

>
Joe Thurston

@Carlos Yeah, wow, in the park? Were you ﬂying in a tiny little plane?

12:51 PM

>
Carlos De La Torre

@Deb and Joe: yeah, I think Grand Teton NP is the only park with the airport
in it. There wasnt another good area around for an airport, but here in
the Valley of Jackson Hole. The elk kind of keep their distance from the
airport because of all the noise, but you might be able to see them or
the big

Speaking of bison and elk, what’s the coolest wildlife encounter you’ve
had out there? I mean, aside from the surly marmot…

>
Carlos De La Torre

@joe: I think i heard this Jackson Hole airport is the most popular and
widely used in Wyoming. Close to both Grand Teton and Yellowstone parks.

>
Joe Thurston

whoa.

>
Joe Thurston

conveniently located.

>
Deb Keller

@Carlos It sounds like you’ve had so many great experiences. If you had
to pick just one single out, what would it be?

12:54 PM

>
Carlos De La Torre

@Joe: It might have to be a Moose that got pretty close. He was just minding
his business around, but there was many people that dont know when its
too close with a wild animal.

12:56 PM

>
Joe Thurston

Wow, yeah, moose are huge, and i’ve heard they can get aggressive on occasion.

>
Carlos De La Torre

@Deb: I think it would be hiking on of the peaks here, Static Peak. It
was a cool experience, tallest peak I’ve ever hiked yet. Funny thing, there
was a nearby thurnderstorm, and as I got pictures of myself in the peak,
I was feeling my hairs rise up from the static of the clouds.
:o

>
Deb Keller

Whoa!

>
Joe Thurston

Sounds a little terrifying.

>
Carlos De La Torre

@Joe: they are pretty huge! but some people thing this place is like a
zoo. and dont think they’ll do anything bad until something bad happens,
then they worry, move around, and give them a bad reputation.

12:58 PM

>
Joe Thurston

Have you found yourself spending a lot of time educating people about
the right way to behave when they encounter wild animals?

>
Carlos De La Torre

I think the best things I’ve liked about this park is just the activities
it offers. I’ve done hiking, running, biking, swimming, boating, canoeing,
photography, camping, etc. Its a great park, mainly because of the awesome mountains.

1:00 PM

>
Carlos De La Torre

@Joe: actually yes. idk if you remember from my last blog that I was going
to give a presentation about pronghorn. Well that happened yesterday, my
ﬁrst evening program. It went great I think. And there, I talked about
the resources in the visitor center and bear safety along with my Pronghorn

>
Carlos De La Torre

presentation

>
Carlos De La Torre

which, included animal interactions.

>
Deb Keller

That’s great. I think most people don’t have a clue what to expect or
how to act around wild animals

1:02 PM

>
Joe Thurston

yeah, nice. what’s the most interesting thing you learned about the pronghorn
while you were preparing for your presentation?

>
Patty Holland

Hey @Carlos - I just wanted to say that I loved this one particular thing
you said in your blog: “Conservation in today’s world should be part of
a lifestyle. Our earth is our park in this universe.” Truly fantastic quote!

>
Carlos De La Torre

@Deb: right. Most of the people in the US live in urban areas, and think
this is just going through a zoo. But its a bit different. Its real, its
dangerous. And average people are not adapted to the wild.

1:04 PM

>
Carlos De La Torre

@Joe: I had a busy week this week, but thanks to my procrastination college
skills, I was able to get the studying for the pronghorn presentation down.
It will probably be the interaction with people, with a big group. Like
how to have conversations with a big group is the interesting thing I learne

>
Carlos De La Torre

d

1:06 PM

>
Carlos De La Torre

@Patty: Thanks! Randomly when I was thinking of the future, I’ve thought….so
if we move into space, that wont be as exciting as Earth; then people would
just come back to Earth as they would come to a park. And that quote came
up when I was writing my blog.
;)

>
Joe Thurston

Nice! Public speaking experience is a great thing to have!

1:07 PM

>
Carlos De La Torre

@Joe: yes it is! I’ve never though I would love working with people unti
this parks experience. I was a bit into just working with wildlife. But
to change and enhance wildlife environments, you gotta hit people ﬁrst.
Education with people is the answer.

1:09 PM

>
Joe Thurston

So true. Speaking of people, have you had much opportunity to make friends
during your internship?

1:10 PM

>
Deb Keller

@Carlos I love the way you’ve been reﬂecting on all the experiences you’re
having. Really looking at them in different contexts and sharing that has
been so thought-provoking and inspiring for me.

>
Carlos De La Torre

@Joe: yes, employee friends. park employees are just awesome! They have
all kinds of experience. have similar hobbies. and in the park there are
different kinds of jobs, so that gets interesting.

1:12 PM

>
Carlos De La Torre

@Deb: Thanks! you should check out my next blog, it might be up tomorrow
maybe. I have it done(havent sent it), plus I’m including a video of my
experiences here.

>
Carlos De La Torre

*there.

>
Deb Keller

Great I can’t wait.

1:15 PM

>
Joe Thurston

@Carlos Has working in a national park been everything you expected it
to be?

>
Evan Escamilla

@ Carlos I’m about to board a plane but I wanted to say hi Carlos! I always
enjoy your pictures. Hope all is well!

>
Carlos De La Torre

@Evan: hey Evan! have a safe ﬂight! thanks, hope to see you around back
in A&M.

>
Carlos De La Torre

@everyone: hey just pointing out that Evan was the recruiter who got me
into this. He came down to my college and gave me a little taste of the SCA.

1:18 PM

>
Joe Thurston

Nice work, Evan!

>
Carlos De La Torre

@Joe: I actually did not know too much of the parks. I didnt know how
they were organized, what was in them. And there might be tons of people
like that. I was expecting to be educating people in some sort of way.
It did turn out that way, and turned out better than expected.

1:20 PM

>
Joe Thurston

So cool. I see on you bio that you were thinking you might want to work
in a park someday, maybe as a park interpreter. Do you still feel that way?

>
Carlos De La Torre

One thing about Grand Teton NP is that it has crazy bipolar weather. Right
now its raining, and like most of the times, it might clear away in like
two hours.

1:22 PM

>
Carlos De La Torre

@Joe: yes. My ﬁeld of study in college leads me through being a scientist
with wildlife. But through experience, I’ve decided I am not too much into
research. So education is on top of my pyramid now, and interpretation
in the parks sounds that it would ﬁt just right. So yes. I get wildlife here..

>
Carlos De La Torre

activities, and would get to work educating people about nature, wildlife
and other stuff.

1:24 PM

>
Joe Thurston

that’s so great. would you have ever thought of working in a park if Evan
hadn’t told you about SCA?

1:27 PM

>
Carlos De La Torre

@Joe: well, probably not. Its like this. I’m always going to workshops
and events where people from different companies come at. I was interested
in the SCA, and wanted to hear about it. So I actually missed another workshop
(not as good) for the SCA one. I started out in the NPS Program that they..

1:29 PM

>
Carlos De La Torre

just started. Im second generation in this SCA/NPS spring academy. So
I decided to apply and travel during my spring break. I got in, the trip
here to the Tetons was amazing. Never seen so much snow AND mountains beside
them. The next step after that was getting an internship, so I decided
to come..

>
Carlos De La Torre

back to the Tetons because I did not want to stay south or where I would
spend another hot summer. So many people in the academy go to go to different
parks around the US.

>
Joe Thurston

Wow. That’s so cool. So glad you chose the SCA workshop instead of that
other one!

>
Carlos De La Torre

So yes, if it wasnt for even. I might have applied for SCA, and would
probably have gotten an internship which I would not like as much.

>
Carlos De La Torre

or I would end up working with Animal Care with exotics (because I’ve
had experience with that).

>
Joe Thurston

Nice.

>
Joe Thurston

Alright

>
Joe Thurston

@Everyone Thanks for joining us for our ﬁrst ever Follow Me Live Chat!

>
Joe Thurston

and thanks Carlos for sticking around late, and having such great answers!

>
Carlos De La Torre

@Everyone: Thanks for coming, or just reading. @Joe: thanks, it was cool
to share some of my stories.

>
Deb Keller

Thanks Carlos — can’t wait to see your next post!

1:34 PM

>
Joe Thurston

@Carlos Glad you could make it. Enjoy the rest of your time at Grand Teton.
Can’t wait to see that video!

>
Carlos De La Torre

;)

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The Student Conservation Association (SCA) is America’s conservation corps. Our members protect and restore national parks, marine sanctuaries, cultural landmarks and community green spaces in all 50 states.